Hojos Last Experiment
by Ssj-Mew2
Summary: The first chapter takes place one month After Sephrioth, and some of the heroes is searching the ruins of Midgar and they find something they did not expect... RedXIII fans is probably going to like this fiction.
1. Prologue: A Search in Midgar

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters or items or summons or ANYTHING that exists in the game! Everybody got that? Good, I don't want to scare away any readers...

One month A.S(After Sephrioth), in the ruins of Midgar...

Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Yuffie walked in the rubble that once was Shinra Inc. Headquarters. Tifa walked up to Cloud with an amazed, but somewhat scared look on her face.

Tifa:¨This is unbelievable, the whole city, down like that.

Cloud turned his head around and look upon her and nodded.

Cloud: Yeah, the thought that this would have happened to the whole planet if lifestream wouldn't have helped out is... I don't even know the words.

Tifa: I know what you mean...

The two of them sat down on something that looked like a part of a metallic door, it was split in half, and the other half was nowhere to be seen.

Tifa: What do you think will happen now?

Cloud: Things will probably carry on as usual, but we will have to get used to be considered heroes wherever we go though...

Tifa: Yeah, Red was chosen to be an elder of Cosmo Canyon last week. Cid carries on as usual though, he was much like a hero in Rocket Town even BEFORE we defeated Sephrio...

Before she finished the sentence, they heard Barret and Yuffie shouting for them to come quickly. They sighed and started to walk to the two of them. The walking quickly turned to running though, since Yuffie kept telling them to hurry up. Finally, they got themselves to the two.

Cloud: What's the matter?

Barret: We found this hatch and climbed down, by the looks of it, the room below is totally undamaged, it looks like some kind of lab.

Cloud: Lab?

Yuffie: Yeah! What if it's some kind of mini-Mako Reactor! There might be materia down there!

Cloud: Eh... probably not... I believe it more likely it's some secret lab Hojo created or something, but we'll never know if we don't go down, right?

Yuffie: Yes! I hoped you would say that!

Barret: Uh... If it's one of Hojos labs, I don't know if I want to go down there... He had a lot of strange experiments going on, we could find anything down there...

Tifa: Oh come on, we've beat up Sephrioth, do you really think there's something WORSE down there? 

Barret: Well, ah... I guess you have a point there... What the hell, let's get down there.

With that, Barret pulled up the hatch and climbed down. The others followed him afterwards. They looked around themselves, this could indeed be some kind of lab that Hojo used before, there were glass containers filled with different coloured substances, syringes, knives, sharpnels, you name it.

Tifa: I'm amazed that this room didn't collapse along with everything else, it must have been built to withstand things like this...

The four of them started to search the lab. Barret was sceptical to the whole thing and looked upon some tubes that held some kind of green fluid.

Barret: What do you think that Hojo creep used this lab for?

Yuffie: I bet he was trying to create materia!

Cloud: Can you get your mind OFF materia for once?

Yuffie: No!

Cloud sighed and started to search a table filled with tools and the like. Tifa noticed a large metal container by one of the walls and walked up to it. She noticed some kind of meter and read the text above it: Days Until Subject Is Born. Tifa got a puzzled look on her face and read what the meter itself said. To her surprise she noticed that it was at –17.

Tifa: Whatever is inside that thing, it is seventeen days old...

The three others turned their head towards her.

Cloud: Huh? What are you talking about?

Tifa: It seems like Hojo has been trying to create some living being again.

The three others walked up to the container.

Cloud: I found some photos of DNA structures on a table, maybe he were trying to clone something?

Yuffie: Clone..? What would he like to clone?

Tifa: We might just be about to find out...

She pushed a button at random at a controlboard located on the container. The four of them gasped as the metal on the container glided to the sides and revealed a glass container filled with green fluid. There was also something floating in the middle of the container. Their eyes widened as they realized what it was.

Yuffie: No way!

Barret: What the...

Tifa: How...?

Cloud: Impossible!

The creature in the container was a small cub covered with red fur. The end of it's tail was glowing... It was indeed a miniature version of RedXIII. The container automaticly emptied itself from the green fluid and soon the cub was lying on the bottom of the container. A door opened in the glass. The four heroes just stood there with wide open eyes. Slowly, they started to understand what had just happened and in a matter of minutes they were fully restored. The group looked at each other.

Yuffie: That's not quite what I expected...

Tifa: I wonder what Red's going to say about this. 

Barret: What're we supposed to do with it?

Cloud: We take him with us, we can't just leave him here.

Cloud walked up to the cub and picked it up.

Cloud: He's not awake, but he's breathing.

Barret: We'll, lucky Hojo wasn't alive to see this, he would have turned 'im into a monster or something.

Cloud nodded and the group begun to move back to the ladder. Everyone of them thought about getting to Cosmo Canyon and tell Red about this, so no one bothered to stay in Midgar. Not even Yuffie, who came there to see if she could find some materia among all the junk.

Eventually, they got out of the ruins, and headed for the spot where they had parked the newly-repaired Tiny Bronco. The journey to Cosmo Canyon took at least five hours by airship, so they made a stop at Costa del Sol first, but quickly departed again since everyone was excited about getting to Cosmo Canyon. They reached Cosmo Canyon by nightfall, and landed the Tiny Bronco on a spot that wasn't too rocky. Finally, they reached the town and was greeted by a villager.

Villager: Ah, it's a pleasure to see you guys again.

Cloud: Thank you, but we don't have time for this, do you know where Red is?

Villager: Elder Nanaki? Sure he's at Bugenhagens old quarters, but he's  a little busy...

At this point, he noticed the cub in Clouds arms, which were still sleeping. His eyes widened.

Villager: I-I understand, I'll tell him, meet him at the Cosmo Candle.

And with that, the villager ran away to the stairs that eventually lead up to Bugenhagens old observatory. Cloud looked over his shoulder at the others.

Barret: Let's just go to the "candle", I wonder what he's gonna say...

The group walked over to the Cosmo Candle, getting thankful looks from the villagers, except those that noticed the cub, who instead looked completely stunned. They reached the Cosmo Candle and sat down on some towels that laid there. Another person was also sitting there, he wore black clothes and a red cloak and one of his hands were replaced by a claw. Yuffie looked over at him.

Yuffie: Hey Vincent, what're you doing here?

Vincent: I settled down here some time ago, more peaceful here than in other places. The question is, what are YOU doing here?

Yuffie: Well, we found something interesting in the ruins of Midgar.

Vincent: Materia?

Yuffie: No you fool! We found...

Cloud: ...this.

Cloud held up the cub so that Vincent could see it. Vincent looked surprised, well, most people wouldn't call that look surprised, but then again, it was rare for Vincent to show any emotions at all.

Vincent: Interesting, I guess you're here to see Elder Nanaki then.

Tifa: Since when did you refer to him as Nanaki? I thought only the villagers did that.

Vincent: Well, as I said before, I now AM a villager and besides, only a few here know that we referred to him as RedXIII.

Tifa: Alright.

At this point, they noticed Red. He was almost flying down the stairs. Partly becouse of the news, and partly becouse he wanted to meet his friends. In almost no time he sat down at the Cosmo Candle with the others.

RedXIII: Long time no see...

Cloud: Yeah... he probably told you about the cub, right?

RedXIII: Yes... is that the one?

Cloud nodded and put the cub down in front of Red. He just looked at it for a while, and then finally spoke.

RedXIII: It is not an exact clone...

Cloud: Huh?

RedXIII: There is one big difference between this cub and me, it is a girl.

Everyone else around the Candle (Except Vincent): WHAT?!

RedXIII: I guess Hojo wanted us to be able to reproduce.

At this, he got some strange looks from the others.

RedXIII: Don't worry, I will raise her as a child, not as a mate.

Cloud: Alright, any ideas on what to call her?

RedXIII: Hmm, let me think... How does Kamaria sound?

Cloud: Not bad, not bad at all.

Alright, that was the first chapter, hope you liked it, the rest of them will take place when Kamaria has grown up a little.


	2. Chapter 1: Nightmares and Sun

Year four A.S, Cloud and Tifa married and had a boy. They named him after the summon Alexander and he and Kamaria grew up as very close friends. He had green, mako eyes that was obviously passed on from Cloud. He grew up to have a similiar hairstyle as Cloud, though his was a bit less spiky, and he had the brown hair of Tifa. When he became 17 years old Cloud deemed Alexander worthy of inheriting his old buster sword. In the same year, Kamaria got her first feather as proof of being a warrior of Cosmo Canyon. Kamaria and Alexander experienced a few small adventures now and then, though none of them would be considered to be a "real" adventure. That is, until year 29 A.S, and this is where the real story begins...

Alexander was sitting on the beach in Junon. He was wearing a black west with a blue T-shirt under and blue jeans. He had just begun to clean his buster sword for the third time, when Kamaria finally showed up. He rose up and streched his back.

Alexander: Phew, you finally came, I was afraid that you were going to sleep forever. I figured you didn't want to be awoken, but if you would have stayed asleep for some longer, I would have been forced to wake you up. I don't want to miss the boat.

Kamaria: Of course not, but... my dreams have become a little... strange as of late, everything is dark, and I keep hearing a voice that tell me things like "It is almost time", "Your planet is doomed" and "Deny me and die". It's really spooky. I also feel some kind of pain inside of me every time he speak.

Alexander: I see... maybe I should wake you up in the future...

Kamaria: I doubt it would do any good, Cloud tried to wake me up last week, when we were still in Kalm. He just couldn't wake me. That is acctually one of the main reasons I want to go to Cosmo Canyon again, I want to ask dad about this.

Alexander: I see... but you never told me of this.

Kamaria: I knew you would be worried.

Alexander: Alright.

Alexander checked his watch.

Alexander: We should get going, the boat is going to depart in thirty minutes and I don't want to run.

Kamaria nodded and the two of them went over to the elevator and went up. They managed to get to the harbor in twenty minutes. The ship for Costa del Sol was there, and it was now taking any passagers, as long as they had bought a ticket. Alexander showed their tickets to the guard, and he told them that they were free to board. 

The ship was crowded with people, most of them was workers that had taken some days off to enjoy a nice vacation at Costa del Sol or Gold Saucer. It was a one day trip to Costa Del Sol by boat, so the boat was equipped with several cabins.

Alexander walked into their cabin and looked around. There were two beds in there, one to the right and one to the left. A tiny room made for dressing was placed in one corner.There were also a couple of windows with a good view of the ocean in there, but that was about it. Kamaria padded in and looked around too.

Kamaria: Not too bad I guess, the beds seem comfortable.

Alexander: Yeah, I guess so, I'll use the right one.

Kamaria: Alright, it doesn't really matter to me.

Alexander put his stuff down by his bed and Kamaria just waited for him at the door since she wasn't carrying any luggage. Alexander eventually finished deciding on what stuff to keep on himself and what to leave in the cabin, there had been a small argument since Alexander wanted to take his buster sword with him (you can never be to sure, right?). Kamaria eventually managed to convince him to leave it in the cabin 

They spent most of the day relaxing, but they Kamaria eventually found a chessboard and started playing against each others. Of course, Kamaria won every match but after losing his fourth game, Alexander came up with the idea to find someone that looked rich and tell them: 'If you can beat my dog over there at chess, I'll give you 1000 gil, and if you lose, you give me that amount, deal?', most of them fell for it, and by nighttime, they had gained a nice amount of gil. By this time, they decided to go back to the cabin and get some rest. Alexander went into the dressing "room" to change into his pyjamas while Kamaria, unsurprisingly since she didn't wear any clothes in the first place, just laid down on the bed and went to sleep. Alexander came out of the dressing room soon after and crawled down into bed too.

Alexander was the first to wake up the next morning. He yawned and looked over at Kamaria. She had rolled of her bed and was now laying on the floor and chewing on her pillow. She didn't seem to have her nightmares currently, but, judging by her position and the fact that her bedsheet was lying in a mess on the bed, it was quite obvious that she had had nightmares during the night. Since she currently didn't seem to have nightmares he walked up to her and shook her awake.

Alexander: Hey, wake up Kamaria, we're probably at Costa del Sol soon.

Kamaria slowly woke up and looked extemely tired. She slowly placed her eyes on Alexander, she still had problems with keeping them open though. She let out a big yawn.

Kamaria: Alright, I'll try to get up...

She slowly stood up on all fours and let out another yawn.

Alexander: Hey, your fur's all messed up.

Kamaria: Oh, thanks for telling me...

There was a long silence between the two.

Alexander: So... did you have a nightmare tonight too?

Kamria: I think you already know that.

Alexander: Yeah, I guess so, what did the voice say this time?

Kamaria: Mostly the same stuff, although it said something about 'bringing the pieces together again' this time.

Alexander: I see, I think you were right about talking to your dad about this. If someone could answer this mystery for ya, it's most probably him. Well, I'm gonna change now, the sooner we get outside the better.

Kamaria nodded and Alexander went into the dressing room. A little while later he came out in the same clothes as the day before. Then he went over to his stuff and picked up his bags and his buster sword.

Alexander: Alright, I hope I didn't forget anything, let's go.

The two of them walked out the cabin and out to the deck. Costa del Sol's harbor could be seen in the horizon.

Alexander: Phew, it's warmer than I remember here.

He quickly took off his west and put it in his bag. Then he looked over at Kamaria. Her tounge was hanging out of her mouth and she was panting heavily becouse of the heat.

Kamaria: Oh jeally? It's just as 'arm as I jemember it...

Alexander kept himself from laughing and changed the subject instead.

Alexander: It'll still take a while to get there, they serve breakfast downstairs, should we go down and get some?

Kamaria: Suje, anything to get out of d'is djeadful heat...

They both went downstairs and ordered some breakfast. By the time they were finished, the captain announced that the ship would be docking at Costa del Sol in ten minutes. They rose up (well, at least Alexander did, Kamaria just sort of jumped out of her chair) and went back up again. It was even hotter now, much to Kamarias disliking. Alexander couldn't bare it this time and put up a quick joke.

Alexander: Is that your tounge, or have you acctually swallowed one of my pants?

Kamaria: Oh, shud up!

The ship docked with Costa del Sol and the two of them walked out of the boat. Alexander looked down at Kamaria.

Alexander: So, what are we gonna do next?

Kamaria: If it wouldn't be so hot heje, I would just say that we should hije a car and head to Cosmo Canyon, but jight now I feel moje like I want to take a bath.

Alexander: Alright, I don't think I need it, I'll just go sunbathing meanwhile.

Kamaria: I simply don't understand how you humans CAN sunbath...

And so they went down to the beach. After cooling down in the ocean for a while, Kamaria started to play volleyball with some kids. Alexander just sunbathed. He had stuffed down his T-Shirt too now, the heat was much, even to him. Still, they had a strange feeling of being watched. The feeling had gotten to them both as soon as they went down to the beach, and it made them both nervous, but no one they saw seemed to be spying on them. Sure, many people were looking at Kamaria, a large red dog isn't something that you see every day, and both of them were a bit famous since they both were children of the heroes that saved them all 29 years ago, but this feeling was something different, it really felt as if someone was spying on them.

Finally, the feeling became too much for Alexander, so he decided to really find out who it was that was spying on them. He walked up to Kamaria and spoke quietly, so that no one else would be able to hear:

Alexander: You're feeling it too, huh?

Kamaria answered in a tone of similiar soundlevel.

Kamaria: Yes, do you have a plan on how to reveal him?

Alexander: Yes, yes I do think I know how we could do this, but aren't you the one that's supposed to come up with plans?

Kamaria: My brain isn't working properly in this heat, do you know what we should do or not?

Alexander: Sure, let's book a room at the hotel.

Kamaria: I think I know what you're thinking.

Alexander: Alright, let's go.

They walked up to Costa del Sol's hotel, trying to look as normal as they could. Sometimes they saw a shadow at the corner of their eyes that seemed to follow them, but they didn't turn around, they were going to reveal who that person was and why he spied on them. They went inside the inn and booked a room for the night. They quickly went to their room. Before walking in, Alexander examined the door. It was opened inwards, perfect. They went inside the room and took positions. They started to fake talking by simply mumbling and after going on like that for a while, Alexander quickly opened the door. A man that had obviously eavedropped on them fell in. Kamaria quickly slammed the door shut again.

The man got up to his feets and looked nervously at Alexander. Alexander was quite surprised in how he looked, he looked completely common, nothing special about him at all, he was looked just like a complete commoner. In fact, Alexander thought he had seen this guy resting on a bench before.

Man: Argh, alright then, I guess it's no use hiding anymore...

The man closed his eyes and his body began to melt. When he regained a solid form, he was no longer the man they had seen before. He now had a more unique hairstyle, it looked like a shorter version of Vincents hairstyle. He was dressed in some kind of red coloured armor.

Alexander: Now that's more like it.

Alexander quickly drew his buster sword. Alexander obviously caught him unaware and managed to push him up the wall relatively easy, but then again, he was quite well built. He placed his buster sword against the mans throat.

Alexander: Now, I'd like to know who you are, and why you spied on us.

The man thought for a while, but realised that he might as well speak.

Man: My name is Daren, and my boss wanted me to spy on you, what more, I can copy living beings I touch.

Daren gripped Alexanders hand and altered form again. This time, he changed into Alexander. Alexander (the real one) was completely stunned by this copy of himself that stood before him, and Daren managed to push him away. Alexander got into the situation quickly however, and he had already positioned himself for battle. Suddenly, he threw away his buster sword.

Alexander: Just becouse you know things I wanna know, it would be a shame to kill you, but if you use your copy of it, I'll pick it up again.

Daren: Pschh, fine, I don't wan't to kill you either, it would be against orders.

Daren laid down his version of the sword on the floor.

Alexander: Good, now let's do this.

The two of them started to fight with their bare hands. Kamaria just sat there, she knew Alexander wouldn't need her help, even if he was fighting himself, it was obvious who was going to win. 

Just as Kamaria predicted, Alexander was winning the fight, Daren had realised that this would happen early, but still tried to fight on, he did NOT want to give information to this guy, but it turned out he didn't have much of a choise, he was now being pinned up against the wall again. Kamaria giggled:

Kamaria: It takes a while to get used to another body, am I right?

Surprisingly, Daren laughed back and changed back into his original form.

Daren: Yeah... I should have copied you instead.

Kamaria: Huh?

They were cut off by Alexander.

Alexander: Alright, Mr Daren, as I said before, we'd like to know why you were spying on us.

Daren: As I said, I was ordered by my boss.

Alexander: Alright, then who IS your boss?

Daren was quiet for a while, then he spoke.

Daren: It's... Rufus... Rufus ShinRa...

Alexanders and Kamaria gasped in surprise, but Alexander quickly became serious again.

Alexander: Rufus ShinRa? Sorry pal, he died 29 years ago.

Daren lifted his eyebrow and answered.

Daren: That's probably what YOU heard, I KNOW that he's alive.

Alexander: Oh, and how did he survive then? I heard that he got blown up by a beam from a Weapon.

Daren: If he would be dead, how would you explain THIS?

Daren snapped of the piece of armor covering his shoulder. A tatoo with the number XIV could be clearly seen. Alexander still looked srious but if you looked closely you could see that he was getting more and more unsure of if Rufus really was alive.

Alexander: You're marked... so? Hmm... Well, if he really is alive, I'd like to know more about what he has been doing the past few years...

Daren: I have already told you too much, I don't seem to have any other choice...

In a final effort, Daren managed to push Alexander off himself again. Daren used the time to run away to the other end of the room and begun to change shape again, but surprisingly, there was nothing there for him to copy.

Alexander: Wha?

Kamaria: Huh?

Slowly, his shape stopped altering and he took the shape of a creature almost identical to RedXIII. The tatoo of XIV could be seen clearly on his shoulder.

Daren: Surprised are you?


End file.
